Xcel Gymnastics

February 14, 2019

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Written by Ashley Hansen

February 14, 2019

·

Written by Ashley Hansen

WHAT IS Xcel?!
The Xcel Program was created in order to provide athletes with the opportunity to train and compete in another format than that required of athletes in the JO Program. Xcel gymnasts can train less hours and still obtain a large skill-set, gain competition experience, and be part of a team.

We sat down with Jessica Friedman, the Head Coach of the Women’s Xcel Program at Accel Gymnastics in Burlingame, CA (a gym near Destira's San Carlos, CA location) to get her insight into the benefits of the Xcel program. Jessica has been coaching Accel’s Xcel Program for seven seasons. In those years, she’s seen exponential growth in the number of kids participating in Xcel both in her program and throughout the country.

“Beyond exponential," Friedman says. “When we first started, Regionals was small enough to have in three sessions, and now Regionals is three straight days with a full day of sessions for each level.”

Accel has 60 gymnasts on its Xcel Team. It’s a huge team, but Friedman says that when going to meets she’ll see teams with even more kids.The Accel program has kept a lot of gymnasts participating in the sport because of the flexibility the program provides.

Xcel VS. THE JO PROGRAM
Friedman finds both the Xcel and JO Program are valuable, and that having an option is a benefit to anyone wanting to participate in the sport. “Neither is better or worse, Xcel is just a different direction,” she says. “What I try to uphold, and what I think other Xcel coaches try to do also, is the intention of the program.”

That intention being a positive gymnastics experience where gymnasts can learn skills, be part of a team and compete the same way they would in a JO program but with a more flexible schedule.

Xcel was created for kids who love gymnastics but are not able to commit to the time, travel, or expenses that the JO Program requires. Xcel is also great for athletes starting out a little later but want to learn skills quickly and compete.

“Gymnastics is the best sport on earth and it doesn’t matter how you’re doing it, if you’re doing it, it teaches you lessons you need for life,” says Friedman.

STRUCTURE
There are five divisions of Xcel: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Xcel follows a mobility chart similarly to that of the JO Program. There are age restrictions as well as level and mobility requirements. The kids that come in having not competed at all, can begin as either a Bronze or Silver. Silver is a requirement because of the skills needed in order to keep progressing. The mobility score for Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond gymnasts to move up is a 31.00 AA.

FLEXIBILITY
The Xcel program was designed to offer gymnasts of varying skill development and commitment levels a rewarding gymnastics experience.The way Accel’s program is set-up, there is a lot of flexibility in terms of schedule and hours. The gymnasts have to be driven in order to keep progressing through the levels. “And I think that’s the benefit; they come in wanting it,” Friedman says.

Xcel offers the structure of a JO program without the intensity. There’s more flexibility in skills allowed. If something isn’t working for a certain gymnast, there’s another skill they can try. For Friedman, it’s this that drives her program. The kids have to want it. “I like to say we have a lot of heart. We really coach the individual child. We’re trying to teach them actual gymnastics tools and knowledge about the ‘why.’ Why things are done a certain way, how the mechanics of skills work.”

Gymnastics, in either JO or Xcel, teaches lessons for life. Hard-work, discipline, teamwork. Xcel is a great option for any gymnast who would like less hours in the gym or who wants to have fun and compete with their friends. Friedman says, “we’re teaching them to be strong and smart women. It makes me really proud to have more women who are going to go out there and take over the world because we gave them that confidence and that self-esteem to make them feel like they can.”